We had set our alarms for 7 so we could get ready, get breakfast, figure out a tour for the Great Wall and not start out too late. Things don't always work out the way you planned. We ate a huge breakfast; eggs, toast, noodles and broccoli, and some fruit. It took us awhile to translate our plans with the front desk and get a tour of the Great Wall we wanted. After that, with a map from the front desk and some directions, we headed to Temple of Heaven. It was a huge park with several different temples. And it was within walking distance.
These are all older folks gathered to play card games, dominoes and Majong!
This tree was really old! Like 200 or maybe 800 years old...(I can't remember which!)
Some dancers!
We wandered around for a couple of hours before deciding to try the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square. We left the park and then realized, we had no idea where to go. The map we had, did not have any information about the subway stops. I asked at the ticket counter and she told us to go to the other entrance, on the other side of the humongous park. So we headed back in through the turnstile, where they almost stopped us before figuring that arguing with us was not worth the effort, since we don't speak Chinese and they don't speak English. We walked the 15 minutes or so to the other side, feet already sore and found the subway station outside. Before heading down to the train, we went in a little bakery beside the entrance. We bought some sandwiches, which looked good but tasted weird (mine was cheese and potato....it had a not so good consistency). We headed down and were happily surprised how easy it was to figure out their metro system. We found Tienanmen Square, went through a huge line for security and found ourselves at the top of a set of stairs. We watched some men and women in uniform in formation walking to the other side and then followed them down, under the street and to the other side, to the Forbidden City.
We walked slowly towards the gates and found that it was closed on Mondays...great. We walked all the way around the walls and found a small street where we could have lunch. We stopped at a restaurant that looked good and ordered salad and green onion pancakes. The pancakes were pretty tasty, but the salads had so much dressing, we probably could have added whole other salads and still have too much! We left afterwards, and decided to head towards some parks across from the back of Forbidden City. Two parks were there and we figured we could walk through them before heading back to the hotel. It took a lot longer to get around to them than we expected. As we got to the gates, we were accosted by a tuk tuk driver who offered to take us on a tour of the old town and up to the other side of Jingshan Park. After some back and forth, and negotiating, we decided to go with him. We could both use some sitting time.
The driver was so informative and took us through a drive of the old town, explaining the number of posts above the door and how 2 is poor and 4 meant rich. And the stones in front of the doors have meaning too. Square meant military and round meant Judge. And that these were passed from generation to generation. Job, status, house were all passed down. He told us a lot about Feng Shui too. It was very interesting.
Afterwards, he drove us to the side entrance of the park and we went in to find some beautiful temples as well as some great views of the Forbidden City.
We wandered around the temples for awhile before heading back down. We started walking towards the Subway, we walked and walked...and walked. No one would help us, just pointed straight down the road. We finally found the station, after asking a security guard right next door to the entrance, who just turned away and wouldn't help us. We returned back to the station near our hotel, and realized just how far a walk it was. We limped towards the hotel, and decided that we just couldn't argue with anymore Chinese people about anything, and went to KFC. Turns out it's even a struggle there. Thankfully, a kind girl helped me order, translating for us, I was so grateful. We finally returned to the hotel and showered and were done for the night.
This tree was really old! Like 200 or maybe 800 years old...(I can't remember which!)
We wandered around for a couple of hours before deciding to try the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square. We left the park and then realized, we had no idea where to go. The map we had, did not have any information about the subway stops. I asked at the ticket counter and she told us to go to the other entrance, on the other side of the humongous park. So we headed back in through the turnstile, where they almost stopped us before figuring that arguing with us was not worth the effort, since we don't speak Chinese and they don't speak English. We walked the 15 minutes or so to the other side, feet already sore and found the subway station outside. Before heading down to the train, we went in a little bakery beside the entrance. We bought some sandwiches, which looked good but tasted weird (mine was cheese and potato....it had a not so good consistency). We headed down and were happily surprised how easy it was to figure out their metro system. We found Tienanmen Square, went through a huge line for security and found ourselves at the top of a set of stairs. We watched some men and women in uniform in formation walking to the other side and then followed them down, under the street and to the other side, to the Forbidden City.
We walked slowly towards the gates and found that it was closed on Mondays...great. We walked all the way around the walls and found a small street where we could have lunch. We stopped at a restaurant that looked good and ordered salad and green onion pancakes. The pancakes were pretty tasty, but the salads had so much dressing, we probably could have added whole other salads and still have too much! We left afterwards, and decided to head towards some parks across from the back of Forbidden City. Two parks were there and we figured we could walk through them before heading back to the hotel. It took a lot longer to get around to them than we expected. As we got to the gates, we were accosted by a tuk tuk driver who offered to take us on a tour of the old town and up to the other side of Jingshan Park. After some back and forth, and negotiating, we decided to go with him. We could both use some sitting time.
The driver was so informative and took us through a drive of the old town, explaining the number of posts above the door and how 2 is poor and 4 meant rich. And the stones in front of the doors have meaning too. Square meant military and round meant Judge. And that these were passed from generation to generation. Job, status, house were all passed down. He told us a lot about Feng Shui too. It was very interesting.
Afterwards, he drove us to the side entrance of the park and we went in to find some beautiful temples as well as some great views of the Forbidden City.
We wandered around the temples for awhile before heading back down. We started walking towards the Subway, we walked and walked...and walked. No one would help us, just pointed straight down the road. We finally found the station, after asking a security guard right next door to the entrance, who just turned away and wouldn't help us. We returned back to the station near our hotel, and realized just how far a walk it was. We limped towards the hotel, and decided that we just couldn't argue with anymore Chinese people about anything, and went to KFC. Turns out it's even a struggle there. Thankfully, a kind girl helped me order, translating for us, I was so grateful. We finally returned to the hotel and showered and were done for the night.
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